The Strength of Day
by Feke07
Summary: In the Los Angeles' Sports Academy...competition is key. You have to fight to succeed. Relena Dorlian knows that all too well. A/U
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I do not own Gundam Wing, but apparently I own the OCs of this story. My very very very first fanfic so please enjoy. Constructive critism is appreciated. Thanks :-)

_A young girl with sandy blonde hair is sitting in front of a rundown building with the words, "Mother Josephine's Orphanage" sprawled across a fading banner. The rain is pounding against the eight year old, unbeknownst to the girl, as she cries uncontrollably. 'No one knows I'm out here. When my brother leaves who will wonder where I am?' The girl is pulled out of her thoughts when strong arms pull her up and into a familiar bear hug. "What the hell are you doing out here Relena?" asks a voice cracking with puberty. The girl doesn't have to look up to know that the one invading her personal space was none other than her brother, Milliardo. 'Soon to be ex-brother,' Relena thinks before she replies venomously, "Why do you care? You're leaving!"_

Relena Dorlian wakes up from her restless sleep to a thunderstorm similar to the one from her dream, and stares into the darkness of her room. She takes a deep breath and says out loud," Why the hell am I dreaming about Milliardo? It's been ten years since he's left me." Annoyed, Relena rolls over and puts her pillow over head, willing herself back to sleep. 'I have to go back to sleep. I'm leaving for that sports academy tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be the main one driving.' With that, the girl falls back to sleep.

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Relena wakes up to obnoxious knocking on her window. Without coming from under the covers, she yells, "HILDE SCHBEIKER AND/OR DOROTHY CATALONIA ONCE I GET UP AND GET THE NECESSARY NUTRIENTS TO GET THE ENERGY TO KICK YOUR ASS, I WILL!!" She listens to the window open all the way, then giggling from both sides of her. 'They wouldn't dare.' Right after the thought crosses Relena's mind, the blankets shielding her from the world are thrown across the room. She opens her eyes to a petite girl with short navy blue hair, also known as Hilde Schbeiker, grinning like an idiot, and a mischievous looking girl with wicked eyebrows and platinum blonde hair that went down to her lower back, obviously Dorothy Catalonia. The blonde sarcastically mumbles, "well thank Allah you didn't sleep naked last night." The shorter one pipes in, "Good morning sleepyhead!! Let's go! We have a six hour drive ahead of us and I wanna hurry before I get bored and not wanna go!" Relena stares at the ceiling and breathes deeply, 'they had better be glad I love them or else they'd be dead by now.' Being abandoned by your only family can shorten your temper a bit. Relena sits up, "fine, let's go."

An hour in a half later Relena is showered, and dressed in blue jean daisy dukes, a black undershirt rolled up to show her naval ring, and white high-top converse sneakers with a black fairy spray painted on the sides. Hilde and Dorothy are wearing similar shoes, only Hilde has a blue fairy worn with black denim daisy dukes and a white undershirt, while Dorothy has a green fairy with a denim capris with studs going up the seams and a green undershirt with the words 'Don't be mad cuz the voices only talk to me' printed across the front. Relena's black Volkswagon Beetle is loaded up for the road trip. She stares up at the apartment building she's lived in for four years, 'I hope I won't be back.'

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Three men are standing outside of a large house. The first one's name is Heero Yuy. He has unruly dark brown hair, intense dark blue eyes like a hawk; wearing black jeans and a sleeveless black shirt, and is casually leaning on the driver's side of a black SUV. The next man is sitting on the hood of the SUV, arms crossed, eyes closed in a seemingly meditative state. His name is Wufei Chang, of Chinese origin, with tanned skin and a tight black ponytail which ends at his shoulders; wearing baggy black jeans with a chain as a belt and a black t-shirt. The third man waiting patiently next to Heero is Trowa Barton, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. He is easy to point out in a crowd, not only by his height, but by his long brown uni-bang covering one of his eyes. From the front of the car Wufei grunts, slightly annoyed, "What's taking Duo and Quatre so long? We won't get to the academy in time for orientation at this rate." At this the front door opens, and a blonde young man steps out with a suitcase, wearing baggy khaki shorts, and an open white button down shirt revealing his white tank underneath. "Quatre, where's Duo?" the often silent Trowa Barton asks. Quatre chuckles as he shakes his head, "Duo Maxwell is the most indecisive man in the world. He refuses to choose between boxers and briefs!"

"Hn," Heero grunts as he pushes off of the side of the truck and stalks in the house.

They hear a man's screams and furniture toppling over until Heero appears in the front door with a suitcase, dragging said man outside by a freakishly long brown braid; wearing black jeans and a red muscle shirt.

"Aaah Heero! I'm comin! I'm comin! Just let go!"

With that Heero opens the car door and practically throws the braided man in, then turns to the rest of the group, "Let's go."

One hour into the drive, Duo starts whining, "Are we there yet!?!" Quatre sighs, "No Duo, It's a six hour drive, and we've only been on the road for an hour." Duo replies, "Where are we going again?" Trowa speaks up, "You know where we're going Duo. We're going to school with my sister in the Los Angeles' Sports Academy, a university where you major in sports. You didn't want to go to a regular university, remember?" That shut Duo up. Quatre takes the chance to find out more information. "Trowa, what does your older sister major in?" "Archery. She also does gymnastics as a hobby. She's better at it. She'll be meeting us there."

They arrive at the huge academy, and when they move to park in a certain spot a black Volkswagon Beetle swoops in and steals it. They could hear female laughing and see them high-fiving each other through the slight tint of their windows. Wufei scrunches his face in disgust, "I hate women drivers." Heero glares at the car before driving off to find another spot. The only part of the "woman driver" he saw was a naval ring and a spray painted converse stepping out of the car.

After they find a parking spot, Trowa gets out, "There's Catherine." The guys pile out of the car and make their way over to a smiling brownish-redhead wearing a red leotard with blue jeans and sandals. "Hey Trowa. I thought you weren't gonna make it for a minute there." The guys glance in Duo's direction but keep their thoughts to themselves. "So Catherine, these are my friends Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, Wufei Chang, and Duo Maxwell, the reason why we were almost late." Trowa ends the introduction with a slightly rough slap on Duo's back. Catherine laughs and shakes her head, "Ok, let me give you a quick tour and get you signed in. After that, you have about half an hour to get settled in your dorms before orientation starts." They start walking around the campus as Catherine continues, "Women and men will be separated in the beginning, then they will split you all up into teams and almost immediately start testing us." Wufei interrupts, "Us? You're not new here." Catherine shrugs with a smile, "The testing is for everyone to see what they are good at. Since classes are given in other areas throughout the year, they figure one could be just as good in another sport as they were last year." The guys nod in agreement as Catherine officially begins the tour.

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"Good morning! I hope you have gotten settled into your dorms and gotten comfortable, because the work begins right here in orientation," says a very stern looking woman with short blue hair. "My name is Lucrezia Noin, an upperclassman, and will be assisting with the ladies' transition into the academy. Now, first and foremost, we must see what areas you excel in. Towards the end of the year there will be Olympic events. They are your final exams. You will be competing against fellow students of all class levels. You will not be graded solely on whether you win or lose, but by how well you stand out in your designated areas. Now, I will randomly put you in different groups, and send you to different rooms. There, you will meet up with the rest of your team."

Hilde whispers to Dorothy, "Hopefully we'll have guys on our team." Dorothy winces, "I hope so. I didn't sign up to be surrounded by PMS for a year." Relena pipes in, "Totally. It's bad enough I spent years with you two," and dodges two fists to her arms.

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Heero and Wufei are waiting in a room for the rest of their team when the door opens and a boy about 5'8 with brown hair and blue streaks walks in, wearing a sleeveless blue muscle shirt revealing a cross tattoo on his upper arm. He notices the two guys and smiles, "Hi, I'm Dan." He receives a nod in acknowledgement. "The name's Wufei Chang, and this is Heero Yuy." "Nice to meet ya-" Before he could finish his sentence, the door bursts open with a blonde and blue-haired woman talking animatedly, "Hilde I swear if I don't see some guys soon…" Dorothy stops short when she sees the room's occupants and Hilde snorts loudly trying to contain her laughter. With a faint blush Dorothy side smacks Hilde across the side of her head, and Hilde stops and straightens up to address the guys, but before a word comes out of her mouth Heero gruffly says "You stole our parking space." Wufei raises his eyebrow and directs his attention to the females for the first time, "That wasn't very honorable of you." Dorothy smiles sweetly, "Now what makes you think that was us?" "I noticed your shoes when you got out of the car. I don't think you'll find many cliques with fairies." Hilde snorts to keep from laughing again, "Oh my God this is gold! Hahahahaha!" She walks up to Dan and shakes his hand, "I'm Hilde and she's Dorothy" she says with a jerk of her head in the other girl's direction. "Is this all of us?" With that, the door opens to reveal their last team member. A woman of partial Chinese origin walks in, with dark blonde hair twisted down the sides of her head to her shoulder. She glares at her team, and crosses her arms over her slightly huge chest scrunching up the oversized army shirt she's wearing. Dressed in knee-length jean shorts, and all white Nikes, she nods to the rest of the team and leans against the wall, "Sally Po." Hilde rolls her eyes, "Social are we?" She's rewarded with a death glare and a certain finger lifted in her direction. Dan and Dorothy grab Hilde's arms just in time to keep her from lunging at Sally. Dan looks at Sally and says to Hilde sheepishly, "I'm sorry about that. She's my cousin…She's not very social." Wufei and Heero stare at Sally until she stares back. Her stare lingers on Wufei before she starts looking out of the window of the small classroom. Heero and Wufei give each other a look, then direct their attention towards the door. Lucrezia Noin walks in, introduces herself to the guys then points toward the door, "You are now Team 5, and you are going against Team 7 in fencing. Gear up."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ooh I can't wait. We just got here and I'm already gonna have some fun," Dorothy' maniacally giggles in delight. Hilde rolls her eyes, and Dan laughs, "So, I take it you're good at fencing. It's not my kind of sport personally." "Dorothy's the best…after our friend that is," she whispers this last comment to guys on their team, "don't let Dorothy know this though. They're too competitive as it is." Wufei smirks, "Oh, you mean the girl who rudely stole our parking spot?" As they walk in, they come across the team they are fencing against, and Duo answers, "you know who stole our parking spot?" They look and see Team 7, which consisted of Duo, Quatre, Trowa, Catherine, and a black haired girl with glasses, and a steely-looking blonde. Dorothy steps up, "WE stole your parking spot okay!?! Myself, name's Dorothy by the way, that girl, Hilde, and…oh hey Relena!" All eyes go to the girl in question, dressed in full fencing gear, blonde hair braided in two braids down the side of her head, sitting calmly in a chair off to the side next to the black haired girl, giving no indication she heard her friend other than the middle finger being raised. Duo perks up, "Relena! So that's her name! She hasn't talked to anyone but Tori over there. Even Catherine gave up after the third death glare." Hilde giggles at Duo, then walks over to Relena, but before she could say or do anything, Lucrezia Noin's voice interrupts, "Happy hour is over. Let's go! First up, Hilde Schbeiker from Team 5, versus Tori Wesley from Team 7." The black haired girl, Tori Wesley, stands, revealing blue and red streaks down the back of her head in braids, flashes a small smile to Relena, and takes her position on the mat in front of Hilde. "Bow. Now start!"

The fencing match didn't last long, due to both girls' lack of experience. Noin crossed them off the list for fencing almost immediately.

"Next! Dorothy Catalonia from Team 5 versus Relena Dorlian from Team 7," and noting the cutthroat look on both Relena and Dorothy's faces, Noin adds with a smile, "keep it civil." They take their stances and immediately start fencing, without putting their masks on. Dorothy takes the offensive, attacking forcefully over and over again, pushing Relena back. Off to the side Dan nudges Hilde, "Hey I thought you guys were friends. Why does it look like Dorothy's trying to kill her?" Hilde rolls her eyes and replies, "I told you guys they were competitive. Fencing is Dorothy's main sport, but Relena likes knocking people off of their high-horse from time to time. That's all," she ends with a laugh. The group looks back to the fight, and notices Relena's look of boredom, obviously making Dorothy angry. Relena guards one of Dorothy's attacks, leans into Dorothy, and whispers something in her ear. This makes Dorothy even angrier, and she pushes Relena forcefully, making her drop her rapier, ending the match in Dorothy's favor. Noin applauds them, "Good work Dorothy. Relena would you like to be on the list for fencing?" Relena smiles, and replies, "No thank you. Dorothy clearly deserves it more than I do. It's not my thing anyway." With that, Relena walks out to change back into her clothes. She stops and asks, "What is after this?" Noin looks at her clipboard and answers, "Gymnastics, then an hour break for lunch." With a nod of Relena's head, she's gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Just keep in mind that the _italics _represents a flashback. Enjoy :-)

Relena walks into the locker room, and leans against the wall. Sighing, she thinks to herself, 'Dorothy has to control her anger. It was harder for me to throw the match. Anyone paying close attention could have noticed.' She stands alert, hearing someone walking down the hall. Relena peeks out as the person opens the door to the gym where the fencing matches were being held, and all she sees is long platinum blonde hair. 'He has hair like Milliardo.'

"_Why do you care? You're leaving!" An eight year old Relena screams at a thirteen year old Milliardo Peacecraft, as she pounds his chest and pushes him away from her. Her brother grabs her shoulders and growls out, "Relena! I have to go! I can't do anything for you just sitting around waiting for them to kick me out! Stop being such a needy child!" "STOP BEING SO DAMN SELFISH!!" Milliardo eyes slightly widen in surprise from the malice in his little sister's voice, and the hatred flashing in her eyes, "You just can't handle being constantly rejected by these people who come by the orphanage! Well guess what!?! I have to deal with it too…" Relena looks down as tears continue to fall down her face, mixing with the rain pulsing down on their heads. Milliardo stares at her, then kisses her on forehead and turns his back. "One day you'll understand." And with that last statement, he was gone._

Relena Dorlian blinks away the tears threatening to form, and snorts in disgust, "For his sake, that'd better not be him."

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"Wow Quatre. You're good," Catherine muses. With a slight blush, Quatre modestly nods in appreciation as he comes back from his fencing match with Dorothy, "Thanks Catherine." Duo comes and playfully claps him on the back, "Yeah Q-man, is…well…the man, at fencing." Catherine laughs at this, while Tori tries to contain it. She quickly composes herself, and asks, "Where is Relena?" At that moment Relena walks in wearing a black leotard and her daisy dukes she wore earlier, looking around for something. "She doesn't look like a happy camper now does she?" Trowa asks. The rest of Team 7 nods in agreement.

Team 5 walks over at the end of the fencing category. Dan holds his hand out to Duo, "Hi, name's Dan, Dan Mayweather, and this seemingly anti-social young lady is my cousin, Sally Po." Sally just nods in acknowledgment. Hilde rolls her eyes at her, steps up and beams at Quatre, "So I assume you five guys came here together since you wouldn't shut up about the parking space." Quatre laughs and replies, "Yes. I'm Quatre Raberba Winner, this is Trowa Barton, and the guy with the braid is Duo Maxwell." At the introduction, Duo takes her hand and kisses it, "Nice to meet ya pretty lady." Hilde blushes as Dorothy pushes her, "Snap out of it." She then turns to Quatre, clearly irritated, and exclaims, "I want a rematch pretty boy." Trowa strolls over and puts a hand on a surprised Quatre's shoulder, "He'll take you on as many times as it takes for you to beat him." Dorothy's frowns as her face turns slightly red, making Duo, Hilde, and Dan try hard to refrain from laughing in her face. Relena walks over at the same time, and goes straight toward Tori, brings her up out of her chair, and drags her over to interrupt the group and sace Dorothy further embarrassment, "This is Tori Wesley, and I'm Relena Dorlian. Pleasure," she ends sarcastically. Heero and Wufei glare at her, then hold out their hands to shake hers, "Nice to meet you, properly." This causes an eyebrow raise from the blonde, then a mischievous smirk, "I know, right?" With a wink she turns her back on them and sits back down. Dan pipes in noticing the vile look in Dorothy's eyes, "So! Who's doing gymnastics?" "Us!" Catherine jumps in while pulling Trowa with her, "We were star acrobats at our circus, so this is no problem!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay! So before we start placement trials in the gymnastics category, who here knows for a fact that they will not be on the gymnastics list?" Seven hands shoot up in response to Lucrezia Noin's question. "Alright, so we'll see Catherine Bloom, Trowa Barton, and Relena Dorlian from Team 7, then we'll take a two hour break for lunch, one hour to eat, and one hour for digestion, then we'll meet outside for archery and shooting. Now, Catherine Bloom, show me something on the floor mat." Catherine winks at Trowa before stepping out on the mat in her red leotard. She positions herself on the corner of the mat then proceeds to do a series of one-handed front flips across the mat. Then, without turning around does groups of back flips back, ending in a handstand, then slowly positions her legs in a split on the mat. "Wow, Catherine that was impressive," Noin awes from the side. Catherine smiles and quietly sits down as Noin calls up Trowa, "Okay. Trowa Barton, you're on the rings. You need a lift?" asks Noin. "No ma'am. I've got it," he answers with slight amusement in his eyes. "Wooh go Trowa," Catherine and Duo cheer on the sidelines. Trowa continues to the rings, powders his hands, then jumps up, grabbing the rings tightly in his hands as he swings himself upside down, balancing all of his weight in a handstand. He brings his arms in, and slowly moves his body parallel to the floor. He proceeds to do a number of back flips and goes back into a handstand, then slowly brings the two rings together in one hand and lifts his free arm up, balancing himself in a one-handed handstand. To finish, he swings forward and backwards, and pushes off doing two full-twisting flips, landing perfectly on his two feet. Cheers and applause sound throughout the somewhat empty room as Noin nods her head in approval, "Excellent."

During Trowa's routine, Relena had been stretching next to Tori, unperturbed by Catherine and Trowa's performances. Hilde and Dorothy were whispering next to Relena about the guys they've just met sitting on the sidelines, and Sally was sitting behind everyone staring at the ceiling, eavesdropping on Dorothy and Hilde. "Okay, Relena Dorlian. You're up!" yells Noin. At Relena's name the guys direct their attention to her on the floor, in a side split laying her head in her hands leaning on the floor. Duo nudges Heero and Wufei, whistles low, and whispers, "Ooh dangerous AND flexible." Wufei's eyes slightly widen, and he growls "Shut up Maxwell," neither one noticing Heero's faint smirk at the comment.

Relena gets up, and looks at Noin expectantly, "Where do you want me?" Noin smirks and points behind her, across the mat, "The balance beam." With a nod, Relena saunters over to the end of the beam, puts both hands on it and mounts the beam by slowly pushing herself into a handstand, then lifts one arm, putting her into a one-handed handstand. She lowers her feet and stands up on the beam, then proceeds to do two no-handed back flips across the beam, ending in a split. Relena then swings her legs in front of her into a sitting position, plants her hands behind her and arches her back into an upside down U-shape, then slowly pushes herself backwards into another handstand while doing a split in the air. She then comes out of the handstand and positions herself to at the edge of the beam. After a second, Relena does a one-handed cartwheel, and two no-handed back flips across the beam, dismounting with two full twisted back flips, landing perfectly. Almost immediately Hilde and Dorothy's whoops and hollers fill the gym, and applause comes from the rest of the group. "Outstanding Relena. You'll be on the gymnastics list right?" asks Noin expectantly. Relena smiles as she walks towards the locker rooms, "I guess so." And then she was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: I had realized that my chapters were kinda short lol. So I'm gonna try and make my future ones longer. Enjoy :-)**

Hilde jumps up as Relena leaves, and turns to the rest of the teams, "So, you all wanna get lunch together?" She smiles at Duo, receiving a whack on the head from Dorothy. Dan laughs, "I'm in. Sally?" "…I'll pass," Sally replies as she disappears out of the doors of the gym. Hilde rolls her eyes and gives Dan an incredulous look, "She's such a buzz kill!! How can you deal with that?" Dan just chuckles and shrugs, "She's been through a lot. She'll come around." They turn to the rest of the guys and receives an over-excited "hell yeah" from Duo, as Quatre sheepishly steps in and replies, "Sure we'll eat with you guys, if it's okay with Relena and Tori." With this, Tori blushes and proceeds to walk towards Relena, standing at the door. "Fine. I gotta get outta here, so lets go. Now." The group shakes their heads then leave the gym, forgetting about Noin…and never noticing a platinum blonde man walking up next to her.

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The group goes to the school diner, and decide to eat outside under the trees around the archery field. The girls incidentally sit in front of the guys, and Quatre decides to start conversation, "So, how long have you girls known eachother?"

"Well, we've known each other for four years. We all ran away from something…and we met each other," Hilde ends with a shrug.

"What were you running from?" Dan asks as he pops a french fry in his mouth. Relena snorts, showing her dislike of the subject, "I just met you. I hope you don't think I'll just divulge my whole life story just cuz you ask. You're not even on my team." She suddenly stands, and proceeds to walk off, taking Tori with her, "Later."

"Relena!" Hilde shakes her head, "She's not as bad as she seems. Apparently something's on her mind…" Duo laughs, "And you wonder how Dan deals with Sally! Ouch!" Quatre pinches him and gives him a 'stop it' look. Dorothy cracks a smile and laughs, "No it's okay we understand what you mean. Relena has been through a lot too. She's been alone for the majority of her life. Her older brother even left her…and that's why she can be…edgy."

Hilde laughs, "That's an understatement. Relena can be downright homicidal. She has a hard time trusting anyone with something swinging in between their legs for her to cut off."

All of the guys choke on their food, minus Heero, whose eye twitches slightly. Duo nearly dies until Heero rams him in his back with his fist, causing him to cough up a chunk of food. He recovers, "Okay! Subject change!" Dan speaks up, "Well what about you two?" Dorothy is the first to reply, "I come from a rich background, however, I felt neglected, so I ran away at age 12. I met up with Hilde, who ran away also, and we got caught in some street gambling." "Like street Olympics, only with rival gangs" Hilde added, "That's where we met Relena. She was the best there. Betting on her had people winning big." Dorothy snorts at this, "She wasn't _that _good. I could have beaten her. Hilde and I were in a rival gang from Relena" Hilde rolls her eyes, "Anyway, we got so much money from it we saved, got a couple of fake ids and ran away once again. We got an apartment at age fourteen, but even though Relena was our friend by then, she was still hesitant, so she got an apartment by herself while we shared one right next to her." "Then time flew by and now we're here!" Hilde ends with a flamboyant spread of her arms.

Duo chuckles at this, "Well we just met up in high school. That's it." Catherine speaks up, "Well Trowa didn't even know that he had a sister until five years ago. We got separated, but then we just so happened to end up at the same circus," she ends with a nudge at Trowa, who gave the slightest smile.

Hilde then turns and looks Dan straight in the eye, "What's your story? And how can a decent person like you end up with the potential anti-Christ for a cousin?"

Whack!

"What the fuck Dorothy!?!"

"What the fuck Hilde!?! I probably just saved your life! You never know he could be worse! He just knows how to cover it up!" Dorothy ends with a laugh as she dodges Hilde's right hook. Wufei and Heero exchange a weird look, Quatre and Catherine cover their mouths to hide their amusement, Trowa just stares, and Dan and Duo openly laugh at Dorothy and Hilde's interactions. Wufei looks at the girls oddly, with slight disgust, "Weak women weren't built to be so rough…"

A whistling sound was heard and Wufei moved his head just in time as an arrow hit the tree behind him. Startled, the whole group turns around to Sally laughing, leaning against the next tree for leverage, with Tori next to her with her hands covering her mouth in shock. After a few seconds, Sally wipes tears of mirth from her eyes, and looks at the group, giving her a mixture of surprised and evil looks, "It's safe to say she has excellent hearing, huh?" The group looks in the direction Sally was pointing.

There stood Relena, 50 meters away, with a bow and arrow in her hands, setting up her next shot in Wufei's direction.


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone but Dorothy and Hilde jump up as it looks like Relena is about to take another shot in their direction. Sally walks over to look Wufei directly in the eyes, with only one inch height difference, Wufei 5'10 and Sally being 5'9, "What _are _women built for? To stay at home, in front of the stove barefoot and pregnant!?" Dan immediately comes up and pulls Sally away from Wufei, only to be replaced with Relena bow and arrow, now two inches from his face.

"Relena Dorlian! Disarm yourself now!" Stunned, everyone but Relena and Wufei turn to look in the direction of the angry voice, only to find Lucrezia Noin. Relena and Wufei continue to glare at eachother as Relena slowly brings down her bow as Noin puts a hand on her shoulder, "Relena, you should really learn to use your words," she adds with a quiet laugh, "this is a place of learning and pursuit of excellence, not a bar." Noin takes the bow and arrow from Relena as she draws the young girl away from Wufei, "I saw your impressive shot from 50 feet away, even with the many people surrounding your target, unfortunately, it's the mixture of your skills and you're _slight_ hostility that makes me obligated to informally ban you from any weapon-based sports."

All eyes turn to Relena, as she gives a slight nod and takes a seat under the tree the others vacated. Dorothy and Hilde finally get up from their spots on the ground, and Hilde laughs outright and jokes, "Well I guess shooting is out, Relena. We'll just go paintballing later," receiving a glare and a small smile from the blonde.

"So who's good with a bow and arrow?" Noin asks the rest of the group. Catherine and Dorothy raise their hands. "Okay, and who's shooting, other than Miss Dorlian?" Heero, Hilde, and Dan raise their hands as Sally calls out, "I'm shooting," with a direct look in Wufei's direction. Noin notices Sally's gaze, and sighs, "You won't be gunning for a certain Chinese boy will you?" With a smirk, Sally shakes her head, "You and I both know he isn't worth it," she replies, ignoring Wufei's glare, and Duo's failed attempts at hiding his laughter.

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"That was great guys," Noin commends the shooters for the shooting category. "I don't even wanna know where you three got your skills," she laughs, "We're done for the day. The more competitive sports, such as swimming, basketball, beach volleyball, wrestling, and martial arts, are tomorrow with the other teams, to battle it out so we can really see who's good. Now, I know your belongings have been taken to your dorms, but I am telling you right now whom you will be rooming with. Obviously the basis is by incoming teams, so Hilde Schbeiker and Dorothy Catalonia from Team 5, and Relena Dorlian and Tori Wesley from Team 7, will be sharing a suite. Sally Po, you will have a single. Heero Yuy, Dan Mayweather, and Wufei Chang from Team 5, and Duo Maxwell from Team 7, will be sharing a suite. Quarter Winner and Trowa Barton will be sharing a suite with two members of another team, Craig Johnson and Jeremy Ferris. You should meet them when you get to your dorms." Noin starts to walk away and laughs, "See you tomorrow, and Relena, no killing sexist pigs while on campus."

The group walks off together, with the girls leading the way. "Hey, how come suicide Sally gets a single!?" asks a slightly displeased Hilde. Duo laughs out loud, "Try saying that ten times fast." Relena rolls her eyes and glances at Sally trailing behind them, being held back by Dan, and answers with a shake of her head, "That's why it's called a 'suicide single', apparently Sally has given the admissions counselors reason to believe that she won't play nice with others."

"Why couldn't they sense it from _you_?" Wufei gripes, as the guys become alert hoping Relena won't surprise them with another weapon. Before Relena could respond, Sally snaps back, "Stop bitching, Chang!" Then Sally disappears in her dorm, with the other girls following, laughing hysterically. Dan chuckles nervously, "Well look on the bright side, you two don't live in the same dorm…" receiving a glare in return. Duo slaps Dan on the back, "Nice try. You sound like a good guy, so I'd be happy to room with ya," then ends in a low voice, "Heero and Wufei can be kinda moody, so I'm doing us _both _a favor. Aahh!" Dan laughs as Heero and Wufei grab his braid and discuss where to cut, and what to do with the pieces. Duo finally apologizes over and over again once Trowa came up with the idea to donate Duo's hair to cancer patients.

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"Good morning. My name is Zechs Merquise, and this is Lucrezia Noin, for all who don't know. We'll be evaluating whether or not you are eligible to specialize in the competitive sports being held today." All eyes turn to the man standing 6'1 tall, slightly towering over the 5'11 Lucrezia Noin. With long platinum blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail ending midway down his back, bangs dyed black, with the ponytail dyed blue, and hazel eyes, Zechs was sexy regardless of his choices in hair color. "Ooh," Hilde whispers to Dorothy, "I love a guy with long hair." The guys all over hear this, and Wufei rolls his eyes as Duo gets a huge goofy grin on his face. "They hear quiet laughter from behind them and turn to see Tori blushing, with Relena shaking her head, "Ego down Duo. You're cute until you speak." "Hey!" At this Tori nearly falls over from laughter, drawing Zechs and Noin's attention in their direction.

"Is there a problem Relena?" Noin asks with slight unease. "No ma'am. My friend just finds Mr. Chang's pick-up lines laughable," mocks Relena. Noin rolls her eyes and tries to contain her amusement as Wufei's face turns beet red, causing snickers from the other teams. Zechs glares at Relena, earning him a glare right back, "Miss Dorlian I'd appreciate it if we were to make today as painless as possible. On that note, we will begin with basketball. We will start off with traditional five-on- five, but ultimately we will choose for two-on-two, based on who we think will work best with eachother. We will not separate by gender until choosing the final teams. Let's begin…"

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After several five-on-five games, it was finally down to two-on-two. Tori just got through playing a great game with Relena, when the last game was announced by Noin, "Relena Dorlian and Heero Yuy, versus Hilde Schbeiker and Duo Maxwell." The already sweating participants nod and move to the court. Relena then slaps Hilde on butt, and says with a laugh "Don't let his sexy long hair distract you from the game." Hilde stops in her tracks and glances at her new teammate, 'Oh god I hope he didn't hear that….was that a smirk? Ugh, I'm gonna kill Relena.'

After a long game, it seems that the two teams will end in a draw, until a perfect pass from Heero, ended the game with an unbelievable three pointer from Relena. Zechs nods in approval as Noin smiles, "Fantastic. Schbeiker and Maxwell, you did great too. Now we'll choose your permanent teammates for the rest of the year."

Duo gives Heero a pat on the back, as Relena nudges him and gives him a genuine smile, and walks away with Hilde. "Wow, she has a pretty smile huh?" Duo whispers to Heero, who nods in return, as they sit down with the rest of the guys.

"…Okay last, but no least, Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy, and Relena Dorlian and Tori Wesley," finished Noin. Duo leans over from behind Hilde and asks, "Why weren't you called?" "Oh," she blushed at the seemingly close proximity, "I told them not to put me on the list. Basketball isn't as much of a passion for me as some other sports are." Duo gave her his charming, but goofy grin, "You could've fooled me." He leaned back, leaving a red Hilde to get picked on by Dorothy and Relena.

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"Swimming, huh?" Duo replies once being told of the next event, "Well, looks like we get to take a break Heero. What about you girls?" He turns and directs his attention to the girls of the teams. Dorothy shakes her head, "No way are we _competing _in swimming." Tori chuckles, "I guess you guys can save yourselves from drowning, but that's where the skill ends?" The girls nod and laugh in agreement as Duo and Dan stare at Tori in amazement. "She speaks." Dan jokes, causing Tori to blush. Relena playfully punches Dan in the arm, "Leave her alone. It took Dorothy and Hilde all night to get her talking to them regularly." At this Dan and Duo stare at Relena the same way they were looking at Tori, only this time Duo speaks up, "Woah, Relena? Joking? With us?" Duo playfully falls on top of Wufei, pretending to have a heart attack, while Dan comes up and pretends to do shock treatment, "Clear!" The girls are laughing uncontrollably, while Sally and Quatre are covering their mouths, snickering to themselves. Trowa and Heero are standing off to the sides, pretending not to know them as a red-faced Wufei finally gets out from under Duo. Duo and Dan make a run for it as Noin walks up, stopping Wufei from taking off after them, "Something tells me you guys are gonna make my life a lot more interesting until I graduate. Let's hurry up and get to the swimming pool shall we?" she ends with a laugh.

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"Woooooooh!!! Nice undies Quatre!" Trowa and Quatre walk in the swimming area wearing speedos and swimming caps. Duo's rowdy cat calls have Quatre blushing all over, making Trowa walk over and nearly rip Duo's braid from his head to get him to stop. Relena and Hilde, sitting on either side of Duo, start rubbing the back of Duo's head and laughing, "Aw poor baby." Dorothy sneers, "Get a room." Trowa smirks at this, and just before he's called to swim, leans into Dorothy and whispers, "Jealous much?" Before she could come up with a sarcastic reply, Trowa was walking away, 'Hm…nice ass.'


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: I am SOOOOO sory for taking so long to upload this new chapter. I had this chap typed up long ago...but through outrageous circumstances my laptop got DESTROYED...Thank God the hard drive was okay, so I got a friend of mine to get my info off of it...and he kept forgetting to give it back lol. So that was a month...and then it took me an extra two months to actually open it on the desktop at home because THIS computer was messing up too! *takes deep breath* Whoo! But it's finally up, and I can finally proceed with writing this story... I was so depressed when my laptop got trashed that I stopped writing this story...but I'm back!! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Here's a reminder that I don't own anything Gundam Wing-ish…but I do own my OCs. This chapter is more laidback. Enjoy.**

In the girls' locker room, Relena continues to tease Hilde about Duo. "Hilde, it's obvious that you like the guy, with his long hair, beautiful violet eyes, not to mention that goofy grin," Relena pretends to swoon, and starts to laugh maniacally as she dodges a shirt thrown at her head. Hilde ignores her friend's sounds of coughing and hacking as she nearly chokes while laughing uncontrollably, "Don't mess around and laugh yourself to death…you deserve much worse." This last statement brings about new bouts of laughter from the normally stern blonde. Hilde glares at her friend whose wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, "Are you done yet? I wanna know what swimsuit you're wearing for beach volleyball, cuz I don't think my thong bikini would be very appropriate," she ends with a grin. Relena gets an evil grin and nods in agreement, "Yeah, save _that _one for Duo."

"Relena!!!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Quatre and Trowa walk outside onto the field, modified for beach volleyball, complete with sand and all. Quartre is dressed in yellow swim trunks and a white sleeveless shirt, and Trowa is dressed in blue swim trunks and a red tank top. They walk over to their teams sitting on the bleachers, where Catherine and Dorothy are having a conversation about archery, Sally is leaned back staring into the sky, and Duo, Dan, and Heero, mainly Duo and Dan, are talking about the upcoming wrestling trials. Duo notices his friends walk over, and whistles in true Duo form, "Woah!! I didn't know the teams were dressing in real beachwear. If you guys are shirtless, I can only imagine what the girls are wearing, huh Heero?" Dan laughs as Quatre and Trowa shake their heads, and Heero stares at Duo stupidly then mutters, "Baka." Quatre quickly changes the subject, "Hey, where's Wufei?" Catherine looks around, "Yeah, Tori's gone too." From behind them someone answers, "I believe they snuck off for the martial arts trials to avoid Duo embarrassing them." The group turns around and the guys' eyes get slightly wide eyed.

Standing there is Relena and Hilde, dressed in black and blue sports bikinis, respectively, showing off Relena's naval ring and a small Japanese tattoo on her beneath it on the front of her hip. Dan smiles, "Wow, you girls look ready to play, right Quatre?" Hilde laughs at the now red-faced blonde man, and walks over to put her arm around the boy almost five inches taller than her, "Don't worry Quatre, we don't look nearly as good as you do." This makes all the girls laugh, as he turns even deeper red.

Relena shakes her head and moves to sit next Heero, as Hilde anxiously sits in front of a now standing Duo. Heero glances at Relena and gives a slight smirk, and without looking at her he says, "Your tattoo says 'love'." Relena blinks then looks down, covering her small blush with a lift of her eyebrow, "Yeah. I hear it's a good thing to have. I'm sure neither one of us knows what it really is tho." Heero slowly turns to face Relena, but before he could respond they were interrupted by, "OOH HILDE BABE! IT'S BEEN _WAY _TOO LONG!!" They turn to see two guys, one of which is 5'8, shoulder length red hair in a loose ponytail, green eyes, a hoop earring, and a smirk that screams "ASSHOLE". The second guy is around 5'10, bald with blue eyes and a nose ring. The redhead nudges Duo out of the way and pulls Hilde into his arms, "You miss me Hilde babe?" He immediately receives a hand around his throat, gripping his Adams apple in response, "How many times do I have to tell you _babe_, not to touch me," Hilde growls menacingly as she pushes him away from her. Dorothy jumps up and pushes the bald one away from her just as he started to approach her, "What are you two jackasses doing here!?!" He smirks and winks at Dorothy, "We missed our girls, plus," he pauses as he walks over between an uneasy Quatre and an alert Trowa, a hand on each of their shoulders, "your friends are our dorm mates," he ends with a malicious smile. The bald man turns to Quatre, who's the same height as he is, "Isn't that right?" Trowa slowly removes the invading hands off of his and Quatre's shoulders, "True, but there is no reason for us to socialize," he replies with his emerald green eyes hardened. The redhead steps away from Hilde, partly due to the looks he was receiving from Dan and Duo, and turns to the rest of the group," I'm Jay, and my handsome friend over there is Craig…but I'm sure we'll get to know you people soon enough, especially you two," he glances at Relena, sitting next to slightly annoyed Heero, and Sally, laying next to her. Craig walks over and stands a distance in front of Relena and Sally, "Yeah, they look like fun don't they?" Sally makes a move to jump at the guy, but Relena puts an arm out to stop her, sitting her back down. Relena gives Craig a sexy smile, and runs her hands across her thighs, over her muscular stomach, and across her breasts, just to flip her ponytail back over her shoulder, drawing Craig and Jay's eyes to her body. Craig leans in closer, licks his lips and says in a cruel voice, "Slow down baby. Don't make it TOO easy for me." Relena chuckles and licks her lips, aware of Heero and the others' eyes on her. She leans in within a few inches away from Craig's face, "Don't worry. I won't make it easy at all." Then she swiftly punches him in the throat, causing him to double over gurgling and struggling for breath. Jay runs to his side, and looks ready to lash out at Relena when Heero stands up, ready. Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin are then heard over a bullhorn announcing the first match ups, so Jay drags Craig to his feet and half drags him over to their team. Everyone sits down and Dorothy suddenly laughs, "That was genius Relena. That idiot won't be able to speak for at least a few days." Duo grits his teeth, "What was that all about? You two know those jerks?" Dorothy sighs and rubs her temples, as if she could rub away the last ten minutes, "We were..associates…in the underground gang, and Jay is Hilde's ex." Hilde rolls her eyes, "Ex-_stalker_ maybe. They get off on a good challenge, which is why they had their eyes on Relena and Sally. They're daredevils, in every aspect of the word." Catherine frowns, "And you guys have to live with them?"Trowa shrugs slightly, "We're moving out once we gather enough evidence as to why we requested a new room. They're bound to give us what we need soon." Sally speaks up for the first time since they met up for beach volleyball, "Hopefully you'll get it before I kill them and get a life sentence in jail."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hilde Schbeiker and Craig Johnson versus Quatre Winner and Relena Dorlian," Noin announces over the bullhorn. Relena pulls Hilde up, "Let's do this and get it over with." They take off their shoes and walk to the court. Relena then turns to Hilde with her infamous wicked grin, "Hey look on the bright side, at least your teammate doesn't have long, sexy hair to distract you this time," she ends with a chuckle and a pat on Hilde's back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Good game Quatre!" Relena playfully punches Quatre in the arm. He rubs his arm and smiles at this as they walk back over to their teams. Duo shakes his head in disbelief, "That was some game. Craig may be a jerk, but he can make a helluva spike. Thought he was gonna take your head off for a second Q-man!" Quartre just smiles, "I bet he thought so too." Hilde rushes over to get away from a mute Craig, "Hey guys. That was a close game. Sorry I had to beat you though," Hilde teases, "kind of," she ends with a laugh. Duo puts his arm across Hilde's shoulders, causing her to blush. Duo smirks "So being Craig's teammate wasn't that bad was it?" Hilde laughs out loud and shakes her head, "Nope. He couldn't talk much but to signal to me when he was getting the ball." Hilde shrugs, "Jeremy, or Jay, is much worse than Craig is, trust me," she ends in disgust.

Tori and Wufei walk up to the group together and sit down, captivated by whatever debate they were having. Everyone just stares at them until Duo speaks up, "Uh where'd you two head off to!?!" Tori and Wufei stop and turn to be greeted by ten pairs of eyes on them. Tori slightly flushes from embarrassment as Wufei's eyes furrow in confusion, "Excuse me?" Catherine steps in and laughs, "Never mind Wufei. Relena already told him you two were in martial arts, but the guys were too busy staring at Relena and Hilde's bikinis to remember it." Now it's the guys' turn to flush in embarrassment as Duo scratches his head and Quatre turns red again. The blushing blonde stutters, "Uh actually I remember Relena saying that." The other guys nod in agreement as Dan playfully shakes his head, "Geez Catherine. Who do you think we are? Craig and Jay?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The new friends are walking out of the gym room for the last time today. They just came from the wrestling trials and Heero, Duo, Dan, Hilde, and Sally made it. Hilde was trying to get Relena to try out, but with a stern look from Noin, decided against it. The group walks toward the dorms and Hilde jumps on Dan's back. Duo mocks outrage, "Hey! How come she gets a piggy back ride!?!" Dan rushes over to Duo so Hilde can swing at Duo from his back. Dan laughs, "She's my teammate. Plus she's cuter." Duo looks appalled, and puts his arm around Dorothy, "I'm cute aren't I Dede." Dorothy grimaces at the nickname, "You _were _until you gave me that crappy nickname," she ends with a chuckle. Hilde calls out from Dan's back, "See Duo? Maybe you should cut your hair short so you can be sexy like me." The girls laugh as Duo's eyes widen in shock and he cradles his braid, "No way Hil. You can keep the cuteness. You could get laid for the both of us too," he laughs as he takes off running as the slightly horrified girls take off after him, leaving Sally, Tori, and the rest of the guys behind. Quatre shakes his head, "When will Duo learn?" This causes Sally to smirk, making Dan come over and drape his arm over her shoulder, "Starting to lighten up are we?" Sally flushes a little as she playfully pushes her cousin away as Tori clears her throat and speaks up, "When do we get our class schedules? I wanna enroll in Los Angeles' Academy for Scholars for more classes." Dan looks at Tori like she's grown a third head, "Why would you want even _more _school?" "Because her life doesn't revolve around physical interests like ours," Sally replies in slight annoyance, "She's a bookworm, like hawk eyes and mr. chauvinist over there," she ends with a nod in Heero and Wufei's direction. Trowa and Heero give small smirks as Wufei turns somewhat red with irritation. Trowa's visible eye sparkles in amusement, "You're quite observant aren't you?" Dan pipes in while laughing, "You guys certainly didn't think she was quiet just for the sake of being quiet. Ow." He rubs the back of his arm where Sally punched him, as Sally disappears in the entrance of her dorm, where Duo is being held in a headlock by Relena, and a leglock by Hilde, as Dorothy and Catherine are in his hair giving him pigtails. "Aaaahh! Guys!! Help me!! Ack!" Heero smirks and turns his back to Duo and fully faces Tori, "To answer your question, I believe we get our class schedules in a few hours. Wufei and I are enrolling in the Academy for Scholars tomorrow. We'll come get you when we go." Tori nods, smiles and waves at them as she walks past a pleading Duo and goes in her dorm.

Relena finally lets Duo go, giving the girls their cue to get up also. Duo jumps up, flushed, and practically runs over to the rest of the guys, whom are trying to keep themselves from laughing at the pigtails in their friend's hair. Dan breaks first, making the other guys start laughing after they notice the pink ribbons. Dan pats Duo on the back, "You want that piggy back ride now Duo? Hilde's no where near as cute as you anymore." Almost immediately Duo takes off after Dan as they run to their dorm.

Catherine waves goodbye and goes to her dorm, as Relena, Hilde, and Dorothy walk back over to the rest of the guys. Dorothy stretches her arms over her head and yawns, "Well thank Allah that orientation started on a Thursday. We only had two days of work before the weekend." Quatre cocks his head to the side at her mention of 'Allah', "Dorothy, you're Muslim?" Dorothy laughs, "Not a practicing one." Trowa snorts at this, "Yeah neither is he." Hilde chuckles at the exchange and shakes her head, "Well are you _religious _people up for paintballing tomorrow?" Relena adds, "And yes that includes you Wufei." Wufei's eyes widen considerably, and then he sneers, "Of course any chance to shoot me." Relena smiles her wicked smile as Hilde responds, "I'll take that as a yes. What about everyone else?" Quatre gives them a pleasant smile, "Sounds like fun." "Good," Relena replies as her and the other girls start walking to their dorm, "Oh and Wufei?" The guys turn their attention to them as Hilde and Dorothy get big smiles on their faces and yell, "IT'S A PAINTBALL BATTLE OF THE SEXES BABY!!"

**Thanks for reading! So!.....Since it took me so long to get this up...any suggestions on how this battle of the sexes could pan out? lol Review! Send messages! Be merry!!! lol**


	8. Chapter 8

PLEASE! FORGIVE ME FOR WAITING SO LONG TO UPDATE! I LOST THIS CHAPTER IN MY ROOM AND I COULDN'T FIND IT FOR SO LONG I GAVE UP AND THOUGHT I THREW IT AWAY ACCIDENTALLY...THEN I FOUND IT RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE, PUT AWAY NEATLY ON MY DRESSER A COUPLE DAYS AGO...YEAH. SO...ENJOY!

Duo and Dan jump awake to loud knocking on their suite door. They both groan, and Duo puts a pillow over his face. He mumbles to Dan, muffled by the pillow, "You gonna get that? Its too early." Dan glances at the clock that flashes 12:03 p.m. and throws a pillow across the room at his roommate, "It's noon! Too early for me too!" Suddenly their door slams open to reveal a smiling Hilde, followed by Dorothy and Relena, all wearing all black tank tops and shorts, with matching sneakers. Hilde jumps on Duo's bed, as Dorothy jumps on Dan's bed.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!"

Duo sits up quickly, nearly knocking Hilde off of the bed, "You brought food!"

Relena chuckles from her spot in their doorway, "Nope, but the losing team today buys us all breakfast." Dan grabs Dorothy and traps her under his covers, then exchanges a curious glance with Duo, "Winning team?"

"Paintball remember?" Hilde yells as she tackles Dan, allowing Dorothy to get free.

"Uh are we interrupting something?" Relena turns around to Wufei, Heero, and Trowa walking into the suite. Her grin widens as she steps to the side to show the three men the wrestling match in Duo and Dan's room. Their eyes widen slightly when Dorothy and Hilde pin the two roommates down, their thighs pinning down their arms. Relena sighs, and sits on top of the counter in the small kitchenette outside of Dan and Duo's room, "They always get like this when we go paintballing. I've had to keep them busy since eight this morning." Relena pauses and rubs her temples when she spots her friends beating poor Duo into the bathroom with his own pillows so he could take a shower.

Heero nods, "You knew we'd be back at this time." Relena nods in response, ignoring the girls forcefully pushing Dan into Heero and Wufei's bathroom, much to Wufei's annoyance. "Chill Wufei. The sooner they get cleaned up, the sooner we'll get the hyper kids out of here," Relena looks at Wufei pointedly. He responds with a small glare and silence as him and Heero disappear into their rooms and emerge wearing darker clothes.

Dorothy plops on the couch in the living area next to Trowa, "Not like I care or anything, but where's Quatre? Aren't you two joined at the hip?" Trowa's eye gleams in amusement and a huge grin spreads across his face, "My sister had to go shopping, and Quatre gladly took my place as her butler for the day." Dorothy glances at him with a mischievous smirk on her face, "Ohh...the blonde softy is already working his way into her heart huh?" She ends in a laugh when she notices Trowa's smirk falter slightly.

"Tori wanted to get a head start on her school work," Relena announces as Duo and Dan emerge from their room wearing black muscle shirts and black shorts. Hilde jumps up, "Alright! Let's go!" She opens the door to see Sally standing in the hallway wearing all black also, slightly startled. Hilde grins, "Right on time! You almost got left!"

They arrive at a forest reserve, one of the paintball ranges. When they stop to get the guns and the paint, the girls stop and look at the guys with evil smirks on their faces. Dan notices and gets the guys' attention, pointing in the girls' direction. Relena gives them a mock curious look, "So... what are the rules?" Heero shrugs, "Shots anywhere in the upper chest and back area are deemed fatal. You get one , you're out." The girls nod. "You can get shot anyplace else more than once, but three shots is the limit, then you're out," Relena adds. Sally snorts, "Let's make it five. We're all big boys and girls." Hilde laughs, "Yeah, you boys can take it right?" Only recieving nods and glares in response, Relena continues, "The losing team buys lunch...and the dead last loser leaves the tip."

"Wait," Dan intervenes, "so we each need individual colors? I thought it was a battle of the sexes? Teams?" Dan finishes with a curious glance at the other guys. When the girls only respond with a nod, Wufei just snorts and shakes his head, "Why?"

Hilde gives the guys a 'duh' look, "For bragging rights of course!" "Yep, I never was too keen on sharing," Dorothy adds with a wink. Heero and Trowa exchange looks and smirk, "Fine, but we get to pick the colors."

TEN MINUTES AND SALLY ALMOST MAIMING WUFEI LATER...

The girls separate from the guys to enter their play area in a different entrance than the guys. They stumble inside, laughing. Hilde pats Sally on the back , "I gotta give you credit Sally. You nearly batted Wufei's head off when he tried to make your paint pink!" This brought on new bouts of laughter, before they remembered their paintball game started when Sally steps to the right just as white paint splatters the tree next to her. The girls scatter wordlessly.

The area looks like a regular forest, only the space is limited ad surrounded by a white fence. There are at least three huge trees, two smaller dead ones bunched together, a large fallen log off to the side around the girls' entrance, and what looks to be an artificial weeping willow thrown in a corner on the boys' side. The only things out of place to signify the area is for paintball are the five foot tall black door-like blockades placed randomly around the forest area for people to hide behind.

The sun high in the sky, making the heat almost unbearable, Relena hops into the largest tree, standing tall in the center of the area. On her way up she hears shots being fired and Hilde cursing loudly, "Who the fuck is black!" Her voice echoes throughout the trees, making it impossible to use sound to pinpoint anyone's exact location. Relena spots Hilde and shakes her head as she watches her smaller friend dive behind a fallen log against the wall of the area. Duo laughs from behind a blockade some twenty feet from Hilde, "That didn't hurt, did it Hilde babe?" Hilde curses again as different color paintballs are shot in her direction, since she was an easy spot. Relena puts a loose strand of her high ponytail behind her ear, as she smirks mischievously, leveling her gun in Duo's direction. Enough of his shoulder was showing for her to hit and distract him enough for Hilde to at least get a shot on him. Relena aims her gun, easily getting a good shot, making a low ticking noise at the back of her throat, breaking the silence of the area. Hilde gives a low whistle to show she recieved the signal, then suddenly Relena shoots, splattering Duo with pink paint along the side of his neck near his shoulder.

"Shit! Fuck that hurt!"

Duo doubles over, giving Hilde room to run past him behind the blockade, angling her gun and shooting his leg with purple paint as she sprints past, dodging a barrage of paintballs trying to hit her as she runs, effectively hitting the white fence behind her. "Aah!" Duo ducks into the fallen log that Hilde was just next to.

_**(Relena 1; Hilde 1; Duo 1)**_

On the other side of the area, Wufei is running stealthily in the direction of the weeping willow. Just before he ducks under the thick underbrush of the tree, a dull pain shoots through his left calf. He jumps under the leafy shelter and behind the bark of the tree before looking down at the red paint on the back of his pants. He frowns, forgetting who had the red paint, _'Someone's toying with me. If they had a clean shot of my leg when I was running, it's obvious that they had a clear view of my whole back...'_ Just then he hears Duo yell and curse from a distance away and rolls his eyes, whispering to himself, "I'd better last longer than that baka."

_**(? 1)**_

Dorothy is ducked behind some bushes, watching the set up that Relena and Hilde caught Duo in. 'They're using the signals we used when we were homeless...' She gets a far away look in her eyes as she watches Hilde run past Duo, shooting him at the same time. She smiles devilishly when Duo howls in pain. _'He's probably regretting his choice of attire,' _Dorothy thinks to herself as she watches Duo run to the log off to the side with pink paint across the left side of his neck and over the shoulder of his sleeveless shirt, and purple paint hit directly on the side of his right knee, just where his shorts end. _'That shot must have hit dead on his bone...oh well.'_ Dorothy immediately lifts her gun with one hand and shoots a yellow paintball on Duo's bare arm just before he makes it inside the log.

"Fuck!"

_**(Dorothy 1)**_

Dan smiles, trying to keep his chuckle to himself so as not to give off his position behind a blockade near the guys' entrance. From a distance he saw Hilde shoot Duo and run, making her his first target. A silent chuckle escapes as he slinks his way to get a shot at Hilde,_ 'I'm all for teamwork!' _He sees Hilde lean against a blockade just in front of a huge tree, momentarily resting. He shoots her in the side of her stomach, making her scream in surprise. Suddenly Dan is hit in the behind with a red paintball, causing him to trip over a fairly large stick and fall from behind the blockade, fully visible to a thoroughly pissed off Hilde. Her eyes narrow and she moves to shoot him in the head. Dan turns around and crawls back behind his blockade just as she shoots, missing his head, but hitting his side like he shot hers. Dan starts running in the opposite direction when he hears Hilde coming after him, only to spot Sally ducking behind a cluster of dead trees on the other side of the area. He runs in that direction just as a purple paintball zooms past his head, effectively splattering a blockade he runs past. He hears running behind him and he ducks and rolls back and forth between the bases of the trees. He hears random laughter...then the sounds of footsteps cease, when paint starts flying in Hilde's direction. Dan glimpses Sally still behind the dead trees and takes aim, waiting for a good shot. _'I'll bet anything my dear cousin was the one that shot me in the ass.'_

_**(Dan 1; Hilde 2; ? 2)**_

With the battle happening on the ground, Relena takes the chance to climb the tree she's in. The tall trees in this area are pretty close together, casting a shadow on anyone and anything inside of it. She suddenly feels eyes on her and jumps into the next tree as she feels something whiz past her. She glances back quickly, noting the assortment of green and silver paint coloring the branch she was last sitting on. Her eyes narrow, trying to predict the direction they had come from. The blonde proceeds to climb a particularly shaded part of the tree slowly, making no sound.

Hearing the commotion beneath her go silent, Relena looks down where she last saw Dan being chased by Hilde, and sees Hilde pinned behind a blockade against the wall, the same green and silver paint splattered across the back. A long braid flashes behind another blockade, moving closer to Hilde. '_I can't warn her without giving away my position. You're on your own Hil,' _Relena thinks to herself as she looks deeper into the treetops, trying to spot the two that were just gunning her and Hilde. Seeing nothing, she settles in. '_Whoever they were won't be moving anytime soon,' _the blonde smiles to herself, '_these two may just know what they're doing.'_

Dorothy creeps behind Duo, figuring him to be an easy target. She hears something behind her, but ignores it as she moves closer to Duo, hoping for another decent shot. Before she can lift her gun, she feels a dull ache in her back, and something splatter across it. "Shit.,.." She turns slowly, giving Trowa a glare, who responds with the slightest smirk and a shrug. "It was an easy shot so I took it," the banged man leans in closer and looks her straight in the eyes and ends in a lower tone, "much like you did with Duo earlier." Fighting a blush from Trowa's close proximity, she sets her lips in a straight line, stands, and walks out in the open and yells, "I'm out!" Trowa hears her call him a bastard before stomping off to the nearest exit. He chuckles to himself, '_I think she likes me.'_

_**(Trowa 1; **__**Dorothy**__** 1)**_

After Dorothy announces that she's out, Hilde peaks out from behind her shield and gives Dorothy a weird look. Dorothy just shrugs, her frown deepening as she stalks off. Hilde hears leaves rustle, and when she turns around she's hit in the hip with black paint. Gritting her teeth, she turns in the direction she knows Duo's in and shoots the first body part she sees, his bare calf. The braided man hops on one leg, in pain, giving Hilde an open shot. A blue paintball hits Hilde's leg with a loud smack out of nowhere, causing the shorter girl to growl out in both pain and frustration. Before she turns to shoot Dan back, Hilde catches Duo raising his gun to shoot her from where he fell on the ground from her last shot. They lock eyes and smile, hesitating for the slightest second before shooting eachother.

"I'm out!" They both call out at the same time, still staring in eachother's eyes. Duo smirks and lifts himself off the ground, playfully throwing his arm across Hilde's shoulders. "Good game Hil!" Duo exclaims as they walk together to the nearest exit, to which the shorter girl responds with a pinch to his side.

"Ow!"

_**(**__**Hilde**__** 4; **__**Duo**__** 3; Dan 2)**_

Dan slinks further away from where he spotted Sally hiding. He slowly makes his way behind a tree a short distance from the artificial weeping willow. He sees a glimpse of Wufei behind the leaves and throws a rock towards him. When him and Wufei lock eyes, Dan jerks his head in the direction of the pile of dead trees and mouths 'Sally.' The Chinese boy's eyes narrow and he nods his head once. Sally peaks out from her shelter and sees no one, though she knows that she ran Wufei under the weeping willow. She looks up and immediately catches Relena's eye, whose perched herself with a full view of the weeping willow also. They smile at eachother and Relena starts shooting at the weeping willow. Wufei runs out of it and heads toward the trees. Sally shoots him in his arm and starts running after him. She sees Dan just in time to change direction, and jump in the nearest tree. However, Dan shoots her, splattering her behind with blue paint in the process.

Wufei ducks behind some bushes against the wall, then feels something hit his back. He touches something wet that landed on his ear, and pulls back his hand to see pink paint on his fingers. He glares at his fingers, then sighs and yells, "I'm out!" before standing and leaving the area.

Relena chuckles to herself, stealthily moving along the middle branches of the trees to where Sally is, "Let's end this shall we?" Sally responds with an evil smirk, "Let's." They both jump down from the tree and run in opposite directions. "Dan!" Sally yells, coming up behind where her cousin is hiding behind a blockade in between the trees. "Woah," he jumps and runs away like his life depended on it. Suddenly he's shot in the ankle with pink paint. Dan jumps in the fallen log on the other side of the area and quickly crawls through it. He spots Trowa hiding behind a blockade out the other end of the log and grins, stopping to point his gun in the direction Sally was following him. He hears shots ring out around him, using his peripheral vision to see Trowa shooting at someone. Then, Trowa just stops. Dan looks over to see Trowa with pink and red paint directly over where his heart is located. Simultaneous fatal shots. Trowa's eyes shine with something unknown as he calls that he's out and leaves.

"Oh Dan."

The man in question turns just in time to see a gun point inside the log and shoot him in the shoulder, making him nearly jump out of the other side of the log and shoot back at his cousin, a full on war starting.

Relena climbs back in the trees, determined to find the last player on the guys' team. She's already figured that it was Trowa and Heero shooting at her earlier, and she also knows that he's probably as good as her since he has yet to be spotted throughout the entire game. Relena's eyes narrow as she hears the faintest sound behind her. She sprints from branch to branch as paint flies inher direction. She makes her way to the darkest and highest parts of the trees, crouching as the branches get more unstable. After what seems like an hour, Relena finally corners Heero a couple branches beneath her, just when Sally and Dan finally take eachother out. She stays very quiet as Heero sits on a fairly thick branch, leaning on the tree's bark. Relena immediately uses her branch to swing down and land in front of Heero, making the branch break and them fall a short distance to the ground. The two grunt in pain and open their eyes to be greeted by them in a very intimate position: Relena landed ontop of Heero and is currently straddling him as they stare into eachother's eyes, mere inches from eachother's faces. Relena smirks as Heero realizes the position their in, "Don't be shy now." She pauses when he gives her a confused look, "I've been your number one target since we started." After a while he smirks and shrugs from his place on the ground, "You're not as untouchable as I thought." Relena's smirk fades and she sits up in order to inspect herself. A light touch of her thigh draws her attention downward, to see silver paint splattered on her shorts and her bare thigh. Heero watches closely as the blonde woman's face draws a blank, then slowly grows into a small grin, as she draws her hands up his torso, stopping on Heero's chest. "I may not be untouchable," she starts, her lips slightly brushing against his, "but at least I'm not dead." With that, Relena pushes herself off the ground and grips Heero's hand from her thigh and helps him up also. She gives him a knowing look and walks ahead of him to the exit.


End file.
